1. Tarot
2. Card meanings
3. King of Pentacles

Minor Arcana · Pentacles

King of Pentacles

• valour
• realizing intelligence
• business

Upright meaning

Valour and realising intelligence: practical ability in business and steady success. Waite notes the bull's head on his throne.

Reversed meaning

Reversed, Waite's words are harsh; we read it as practical strength used carelessly, and a prompt to steady it.

• weakness

Symbolism

A king on a throne carved with bulls' heads holds a pentacle and a sceptre, vines around him.

Group

Minor Arcana · Pentacles

Element, astrology

Not given by Waite, so we give none

Source

Our own plain-English summary of A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London: Rider, 1911), Part III §2 (The Lesser Arcana). The keywords are Waite’s own words. Waite’s fortune-telling lists also contain harsher terms; we keep to the reflective readings he gives and never state an event as certain.

Tarot is a tool for reflection, not a prediction of fixed outcomes. This is not medical, legal or financial advice.